Katherine Quinn, Hunni, and Cassie along with three other FBC Commandos were part of a larger rescue operation that had been authorized by the United Nations. Less than a day ago they had been recalled into Active Duty and shipped almost half-way across the world to the vast oceans of the Pacific.

The team had already flown over the wreckage of the Heaven of the Seas, that 'dive' and salvage operation mostly in the hands of the Chinese.

Several hours ago the wreckage of a helicopter, along with a floating FBC Dive tank had been discovered near a small chain of unexplored islands.

Presently, the three women were onboard the helicopter as it flew beneath the cloudy skies that seemed ready to erupt into storm once again.

<><><>

On a small unexplored Island

Chase and Richard both begin to wake up on a small shoreline, some debris from their helicopter having washed up as well.

It was her first -real- time back in the field with this new team, but in a way Hunni was looking forward to it even after all the memories of Raccoon city and the nightmares that had followed. There was plenty lasting effects to be explored, and questions to be asked, but for now having a job and an objective was a relief. With her S.T.A.R.S. uniform that had been so reliable nowhere to be found, the asian sniper wore her new FBC gear, but she still cradled her beloved Arbiter none the less. Few guns were more reliable for her talents after all. One last check of her gear and she looks out the window towards their target zone.

Consciousness came slowly to Rick. Sort of like booting up a computer, the power was there before anything was running. So he was feeling sensations before the first coherent thought came through, which was, 'I'm feeling something, so I'm not dead'. That was something. It was /certainly/ more than he hoped. The next was he was wet, cold, and sand, weather you were on a vacation or in a survival situation, simply /sucked/ when you could taste it.

A short groan, placing his hands on the beach, and struggling up. Coughing a bit, but not much water there. Good. A lot of aches and pains. Some minor, others, like the wet bandages on his stomach, less so.

All right. So. Still a survival situation, it looks like. Maybe one without zombies. Better situation, though not by much. First rule: Take stock. Body seemed to be fully functional for the moment... He was on a beach, from a small island. Not a lot of cover. There was the helicopter wreckage. Hand running around, into his back. Still had the SIG... ammo wasn't an issue. And the wreckage... There.

He slowly walked over to it, gripping the bullpup assault rifle in the sand, pulling it out. Maybe it would still work-

Crap. His hand moved behind him reaching into his back pocket. Oh, God, please...

Onboard the helicopter, Cassie continues to make last minute preparations as she checks to make sure her weapons are loaded and ready for action. After making sure that she has her ammo on hand and her weapons are, indeed, ready for action, Cassie holsters them for the time being before reaching down to slip on her favorite beret. Now was the time for action, and Cassie was as ready as ever.

Abord the helicopter, Wyvern sits silently with the butt of her rifle on the deck of the chopper. She has her head down, clearly thinking quietly to herself as the thrum of the helicopter blades and the sound of distant lightning fills her ears.

Not the most auspicious start for the FBC, to say the least. Several members dead or MIA, the ship sunk but in the hands of the Chinese, god only knows how many civilian casualties. Was Umbrella behind this, she wonders. It'd make sense. A ship like that, Umbrella could have funded it through a shell company and placed their own people on board.

IRrevent of everything, Rick is reaching for the wallet, finding it in his back pocket, and flipping it up, looking through the cards, working to the plastic holder-

There. Certainly, a little damage, but a wallet in a pocket and plastic managed to protect most of it. Perhaps a little damaged, due to the water, but it would add character to it. History, and that was okay. He ran a thumb over it, making sure he could still see the picture of the woman, and the child, in the photo. Himself, too, if only so he could find a center in times that had more joy and less danger. He gave himself a bit. Half a minute, to really consider it, before taking a breath. He'd let it try a little later, once he had a shelter ready to go, but he didn't want to leave it somewhere else for now. All right. Time to keep going.

He set the rifle next to him, drew his pistol, and checked it over, working the action, checking the clip. Just water. Rifle next. His hands worked over rifle in his hands, cleaning it of what sand he could, removing the clip and making sure nothing had gotten in there. A few hard slaps, working the charging handle a few times. Lord, he wasn't going somewhere without a gun for a long time. Never again. He'd wear it to goddamn funerals. Esspecialy funerals. More likely at funerals.

He didn't know if either of them would fire, but it was better than not doing anything at all. Standing up again, he started on a circuit of the beach. Take a good, visual stock of the wreckage, any tools left avalible... any survivors. Well, anyone but Andrei. He'd rather go slowly insane alone than having that braying jackass as company. Hah, all right, there was a smile.

The helicopter continues to fly over the rough oceans, a small island looming in the distance, still a little bit away as search lights were shined over the ocean. Something, or someone had been found and the chopper circled over a piece of wreckage with a figure clutching to it.

The helicopter did its best to hold position and one of the commandos lowered a rappel line towards the survivor, while the pilot announced, "I'll keep her steady for as long as I can."

One of the commandos stood ready to help recover the survivor (William Caldwell) from the ocean if nobody else stepped forward.

<><><>

On the Unexplored Island

Chase was presumably fine, maybe coughing up water but very much alive.

Rick spies something else wash up on shore with the latest bit of wreckage as the tides moves in. It's Andrei, and he's not moving.

It was the Hippogryphs Oath to save lives, and Rick was a Doctor, damnit!

Andrei Kirov is very good at floating! That at the very least is a perk of having just a tenaciousnes to live right? Generally being good at floating?

His bloodied Monkey-print T-shirt had been sadly swept away in the ensuing chaos, though in some ways that just might help keep things a bit more sane. Andrei did have some very important information and documents though.. and that at the very least made his corpse valuable!

"I got him." Kat stood up and moved to the rope, "You know probably should have had a basket or a winch for this." She mutters, as she moves to strap herself onto the rappeling line. At least they weren't going to try to make her fast rope into the ocean.

She's done this sort of thing before, rappeling from helicopters, so she leans back and lets the line behind her go slack, sliding down the rope towards the unconcious victim down below.

Currently floating in the ocean is William Caldwell. He was unconcious as fuck and simply going along with the currents. He's not moving in the slightest and his gear bangs against him gently with the waves of the ocean. At least he wasn't sinking, that was a start right? Unlike Andrei, Caldwell doesn't have a cool shirt, but he does have a COOL WETSUIT.

All right. There was one of the team that had come through. He gives a nod to Chase as sees him, trotting forward. "Just take a deep breath. Anything broken? No? All right. Hold here. I'm making a circuit, I'll be back." He says, before standing up, and moving to continue walking. It wasn't a large island, but it still required some jogging... and there was another person there. Looked like Andrei... and he wasn't moving. Rick sighs, and breaks off into a run. Well, at least the body was intact. Weather it was Andrei or Andrei's corpse still had yet to be certain.

Kneeling next to him, he grips the shoulder's and shakes. "Andrei? You hear me? Andrei!" Loud, attempting to get a response. Hands moving over the head and hair for blood, next for veterbrae in the wrong position, over the chest, adbdomen for any hardening, broken legs... all right, forehead back, chin up, clear the air way... finger on the neck. Pulse? Breathing?

All right. No breathing, no pulse. Drowned, but he wasn't dead for a while. So the choice was weather to black tag him and see if he could find Ciao, Markus, or Caldwell... or spend some time trying to save what could be a corpse while the others could be dying. It actually took a second of thought.

"Fuck you, Andrei. /Really/. Mouthshield. Guns and Mouthshields" He mutters, pinching the man's nose, and, before he can change his mind, and hiving two breathes. IF /that/ was worked, his hand moves to the chest, starting chest compressions. "You get five minutes of this, and then you get tagged. And I'll feel silly talking to a dead man."

From her position in the chopper, Hunni simply nods her head in agreement. She won't volunteer to sling down there and hoist the man, instead she moves position to near the door, peering out with her senses outside. This might be a rescue, but something put them in danger to begin with and it might not be so happy for the attempt at saving the first batch of people.

"There he is!" Cassie calls out from the helicopter as she spies William. "I hope we're not too late to save him." She begins to nibble her lower lip nervously, worried about the possibility of losing a comrade in a situation like this. "If you can hear me, William, don't give up!" She whispers to herself, as if praying. "We're gonna help you!" She looks out from the helicopter down below, hoping they can get to him in time.

Katherine Quinn is able to recover William Caldwell and the pair are raised back up by the winch/rappel line back up top. The commandos resume their search with the spotlights as William is dragged to the deck, thankfully not dead.

The pilot begins to head back in the direction of the chain of Islands.

<><><>Unexplored Island<><><>

The sound of a helicopter approaching can be heard, but it's not the FBC Rescue Chopper. It is a Chinese Mil-24 Hind helicopter, that Carlos Olivera is currently riding on. The former rebel and UBCS member having been sent by the UN all the way from Paris to China a day ago to take part in the rescue operations as part of the BSAA.

As the helicopter is landing, the doors open and the Chinese soldiers begin to fan out, two of them taking position near the helicopter; while the other four move out and begin to sweep the beach.

They leave Rick and Andrei for Carlos to deal with, none of them speaking very good English.

Carlos first sight of Rick and Andrei is the former giving the latter CPR. Andrei will start to cough as he regains consciousness and in a way, returns from the dead.

Caldwell is saved! Hooray! But he's probably water logged the same as Andrei is. He doesn't look very responsive so either he's unconcious or drowned the same way Andrei was when Rick got to him. Probably the former rather then the latter but you can't be too sure can you? He doesn't seem to be moving any time soon and there appears to be something wrong with his chest if one were to look at it closely enough. But who wouldn't want to look at Caldwell's STUNNING abs?

Carlos' ride in the Chinese Mil-24 was quite uneventful. The Chinese soldiers staring at him and he at them in relative silence had gotten old enough that Carlos had spent the most of his time looking out of the window. As the Chopper comes in for a landing and the soldiers fan out, Carlos is the last to jump free and put boots to sand. He has his M4A1 in his hands as he spies Rick and Andrei. His approach toward them is relatively slow as he calls out, "Hello! I am here as part of a rescue team. Are you alright? Are there any other survivors?"

Oh, it looks like there was a helicopter heading over! A... fuck. MI-24. Well, that wasn't an Umbrella VTOL, but he really wished that it wasn't the goddamn PLA. Sure, they were helpful, but he was next to a Chinese assault rifle helping a foriegn commando. At best, it was going to be a few days of hard, pointed questions. At worst, he might end up in the same prison as the rest of them. Hey, at least they'll get fed. Though maybe he'd be in the same cell as Andrei. It was true; Hell was other people.

But the Chinese weren't heading right over there. Instead, it looked like someone else was heading toward them. Hispanic. Maybe a mercenary? Not like there was much use for that information. "Hello!" He says, before quickly bending down and giving two more rescue breaths. "Are you from the cruise ship company? I have /so/ many compliants." He's a little bit cross, but he has a right to be! "One other one, down on the beach. Breathing, last time I saw him. So long as you're here, you can-"

He's speaking when Andrei starts coughing, before quickly stepping back. Hand goes to his rifle, holding it up. "Kirov, can you hear me? If you can hear me, do something human."

Really, Rick should have been more concerned previously. He was practically lips on that man for fuck's sake. But late caution was still better than no caution.

"You owe me like a whole case of beer when we get back." Kat says to William, even if he can't hear her yet because he's still unconcious, "Medic, make sure he lives." She motions to the team's doc, as she moves back towards the door of the helicopter, holding on to the handle near the door as she peers out over the islands and beaches, "Come on, where the hell is everybody."

Caldwell slowly begins to hack and cough on his own, spitting up a tiny amount of water, apparently not enough to fill up his lungs. This man was STRONK. He slowly rises and rubs his head, looking around "Where the hell am I?" he asks, looking around. Then spotting Kat and Cassie "Oh thank god you guys are here..." he slowly gets to his feet, holding his ribs "Fucker broke a rib or two I think...My chest feels like it's on fire."

Kneeling down beside William, Cassie speaks loudly but calmly. "You're onboard a helicopter. We came to get you out of here. Looks like you're in rough shape, but you should be OK. Try to stay still, OK?" She stands up once the medic gets there and then lets them get to work.

As Andrei coughs up a gallon or two of water it looks like, the man's hand will reach up to his head to shield his blurry vision from the sunrays now beating down on him. He'll turn his head slowly to look away only to catch the sight of figures in the sand and there is what sounds like a heaving sigh and grumble before another couple sputtering coughs.

A few second pass as he just lays there still before he moves to press up. "Couldn't live with the guilt of turning me, Stadler?" Andrei hoarsley offers as he pushes himself up off the ground. He doesn't even bother looking at Carlos, going to the shoreline then as he tries to focus at the edge.

Backpack? Half-waterlogged but check. He'll grab that and tug it out of the dirt. Shotgun? Also halfburried. That he won't so much grab as dig his foot under the sand and kick the firearm up to him which he holds by the barrel and grunts. "Got to clean house before inviting guests or somethin like that.." Andrei mutters

Carlos can't quite stifle the half grin that spreads across his features at the question to whether he is with the cruise line. "Negative, sorry pal. I was sent here by the UN to look for survivors and get you out of here. If you three are the only ones here, then lets get on the helicopter and get into the air to look for more," he says. Carlos' attention shifts to look over toward where Andrei has dug up a weapon, his hands tightening on his own gun before he begins to jog in the direction of the third survivor.

The unexplored islands loom ahead and the pilot of the FBC Chopper announces, "We're getting word one of the Chinese teams has found survivors, might be the rest of our people we're looking for. Remember, this is a joint-operation." The pilot who was an officer, reminded the soldiers who would be deploying.

Afterall, the Chinese, FBC, & BSAA (Who the hell were they?) were all supposed to be working together on this.

<><><>On the Island<><><>

Carlos, Rick, and Andrei can see the FBC Helicopter setting down near the Chinese one, making it one very crowded beach for the time being. At least everyone was in one place though!

Caldwell nods to Cassie "Gotcha.." he says, groaning and leaning against the chopper. He tries to ease the weight off his chest and sighs "Can I get some medical attention for my ribs? Please?" he grunts as the officer speaks.

Downwards they are heading it seems. Hunni shifts a little in her seat as she look down at Caldwell. "Just try to keep still," she offers 'helpfully' before marking ready to step off. When they arrive? She'll be one of the first to get back on solid ground, her gun sweeping left and right as she scans the surroundings of the 'unexplored' treeline for threats.

Once the chopper gets low enough, Cassie is quick to get down onto terra firma as well. She sweeps around with her gun, looking from side to side alertly, before waiting for the others to join her and awaiting further instructions. There's no telling what could be waiting for them down here, but Cassie's hoping it's nothing B.O.W. related.

Kat is off the helo as soon as it touches down, sweeping her weapon past the pilot of the Chinese helo before bringing it around, establishing a perimeter, "We need to get those men onto the chopper ASAP." She motions to one of the other commandos to go secure the injured FBC members, keeping an eye on the Chinese forces...It's nothing personal, she just hasn't had great experience with coming across other spec-ops units in the field.

Stadler keeps the weapons pointed at Andrei for a while, a long while, before he actually talks, the weapon lowering to the ground when he does. "Not a carrier. Would have been the virus somewhere else that turned you. And what the hell else am I supposed to do, lock you in a garden shed and have tea parties on my weekends?" Okay, not the best joke, but he'd only been conscious for 20 minutes. Give him a little bit. It was on and off. He watches Carlos run to the other survivor, as well. "And God bless the UN, then. I'm ready to get the hell out of here." He says, before looking back to Andrei.

As Carlos is jogging away, he helps the man get his gear, using the time to speak in a lower voice. "I know everyone's working together right now, but, all being told-"

The helicopter that comes next is recognizable. Oh, Thank God, one of theres. "All being told, we need to get on that one. I'm sure I'd rather be debriefed somewhere that might not putting us in the same place as the crew of that Orion a few years ago."

"You want to what?" Andrei inquires of RIchard as the man moves away. "I'm not getting on a helicoptor with you ever again." He gives a pointed look to Carlos's back before he speaks louder to call his attention, "The man has crashed one hundred percent of the birds he has been on." That Andrei knows about.. though as the sight of another chopper gets closer and closer, Andrei's attention will shift up to the sky. "Changed my mind. I like the look of that one."

Andrei will take the time then to slowly begin figuring his way through his shotgun then. Checkign the slide, the barrel, the saftey, all that fun stuff. The man's attention clearly shifting to look it over even as his head lifts and begins to look up and down the beach. Rather than looking for survivors however, the man's now visible features seem to be focused intently on the Chinese rescue team, counting and looking them over. The F.B.C agents in turn are not given much attention, assumptions abounding.

Having checked to see if the other man was still hanging out wherever he is down there in the sand, Carlos returned toward Richard and Andrei. His left brow lifts as he eyes the other chopper that has arrived before he says, "So what happened out here? I didn't get much word before getting my orders and hopping on that helicopter."

Stadler rolls his eyes at that. "Take it up with a personnel officer when you get back. I'm sure they'll be accomidating. Maybe issue a restraining order so we're always on seperate birds. Though I will point to the /facts/ that I've been on pleanty of helicopters that have worked fine. I've only crashed 100 percent of the helicopter's I've /piloted/." That made more sense. Carlos was going to handle Chase, so Stadler looks to start moving toward /their/ helicopter... but notices Andrei's look at the Chinese. "Easy. I know they took your CO, but this isn't the time to start World War III. They're here to rescue people, same as the rest. Let's just... make sure we go with option B, all right?"

As Carlos comes back, Rick keeps his weapon pointed toward the ground, making sure there's no threatthere. "I'm afraid it was all a bit sketchy. SOme sort of... bioterrorism incident. A lot of those zombies they talked about from that thing in Colorado. A lot of scorunging and searching for gear. We thought we were getting rescued, but then terrorist killed those soldiers; These one survived, and we managed to get to a helicopter before... the ship blew up, like it had explosives in it."

"Hey, guys." Wyvern looks over her shoulder, "Bicker later. Lets get the hell off this island before that storm hits and we wind up stuck here. Last thing I want to do is go camping right now. I didn't bring any graham crackers or marshmallows."

She motions towards the helicopter, "You can do the debriefing thing later."

Carlos receives word on his radio that the Chinese have swept the island clear, but he was free to ride back with the FBC if he wanted (Cleared with the pilot through Joint-Command as this was a cooperative endeavor).

Word comes in that Caio has been found also and that the TerraSave survivors (no names given) were evacuated by a Private Military & Rescue Team paid at great expense by one of their patrons.

Andrei even hears over his radio that Rachel Foley, the mission commander was being turned back over to the Americans safe and sound.

The nightmare was over.

Thousands of lives had been lost, in a trivial endeavor. Hopefully, whatever meager data Andrei had recovered was worth it.

"Same thing right?" Andrei mutters as his hand moves to his chest and touches lightly feeling the paper in his wet suit and checking his bag then for the assortment of data that he had recovered, even as he moves towards the Helicoptor. "Yah, yah.. Debreifing, can't wait to get shouted at."

He'll observe before pausing to look back and wait for Stadler, his shotgun held in both hands. "I'm just looking for a cute one to defect to Stadler. Do you really think of me so poorly that I'd shoot em? I mean.."

Stalder was all for getting out of here. Not that he had anything aganist Carlos... but the longer they were here, the more questions people were going to start asking. Which offered both a security risk... and, let's face it. Rick was exhausted. He didn't realize until rescue was just there, but the past two weeks had been that of scourging for supplies, eating less than he should, and sleeping 20 minutes at a time, waiting for the door to get bashed open by a zombie who saw it. He was exhausted, and, like Katherine said, the debriefing could wait until later.

"Come on, then. At least we'll get some sleep before the shouting. Defection never works. Didn't you watch the instructional video? Maybe I was the only one. They all get arrested in the end. Plus, China doesn't have as good of a hamburger, than in the States."

He follows Katherine to the helo, getting into the cabin, before looking over to Carlos. "Well? You coming? Or you want to fly back on that gunship? Can't be comfortable."

Andrei moves to follow behind Standler than, apparently more than happy to hop onto the heli and just crash for a few hours. No need to deal with any other problems at the momment except planning what he would do when he got home.

Maybe he'd get a promotion? Oh Andrei, stop fantasizing. "I just want to get out of here. I'd take Rice or Hamburgers or whatever it it got me off this damn island."

Stadler just shakes his head, as he buckles into the seat, four point harness locked in, as he brings his head back. "I hope you still have that keycard, and the document I gave you. Might lead to a little less yelling and a little more praising. But that's later. Now, I'm sleeping until we get to land, then sleeping until we get to the plane, then sleeping to we get to the base, and then sleeping until I wake up. With medium rare hamburger breaks in between."

It should be something complex. Something meaningful this could end on. But that was for when he had time to think. Now? Now it was enough to know he was safe.